The Investigation of Lucy Letby landed on Netflix last week, examining the former neonatal nurse who was convicted of murdering seven babies. Following the conviction, doubts have been raised about the case, leading to discussions of a potential retrial.
As is revealed in the new true crime documentary, the Countess of Chester Hospital in the UK experienced a sudden spike of deaths and collapses in its neonatal unit between June 2015 and 2016.
An investigation into Lucy Letby was launched after discovering she was on duty for many of the deaths. Following a highly-publicized trial, Letby was found guilty of seven counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder of babies in the hospital’s care.
In August 2023, she was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order. After laying bare the facts of the case, the Netflix documentary pivots to those who believe a miscarriage of justice has taken place.
Will Lucy Letby get a retrial?
Right now, a retrial is yet to be confirmed by British courts. In order for a retrial to go ahead, Letby’s existing convictions would first need to be overturned or set aside through the legal appeals process. In England and Wales, this can only happen in limited circumstances.
Either the Court of Appeal would need to find that the original trial was unsafe following a successful appeal, or the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) would need to refer the case back to the Court of Appeal after identifying new evidence or a serious miscarriage of justice.
Without a successful appeal or a CCRC referral, there is no legal mechanism for a retrial. Public inquiries, police investigations, or decisions by the Crown Prosecution Service do not, in themselves, reopen criminal convictions.
If the Court of Appeal were to quash Letby’s convictions, it would then decide whether a retrial should be ordered. Until such a ruling is made, her convictions remain in place.
Even so, Letby’s lawyer, Mark McDonald – who appears in Netflix’s The Investigation of Lucy Letby – believes new evidence could reopen the case and is pushing for a review.
Speaking with Good Morning Britain last September, he said, “I now have 26 separate experts and over a thousand pages of fresh evidence that have gone before the CCRC, probably more so than in any other case that the CCRC have ever dealt with.”
When asked why this wasn’t then presented during the original trial, McDonald simply said he wasn’t on the trial council before reiterating the international experts who have provided evidence for the appeal attempt.
Upon the application on behalf of Letby last year, a CCRC spokesperson reiterated that it is not involved in deciding whether she is guilty or innocent, while emphasising the importance of remembering the families of the victims in this case.
“We are aware that there has been a great deal of speculation and commentary surrounding Lucy Letby’s case, much of it from parties with only a partial view of the evidence,” they said.
“We ask that everyone remembers the families affected by events at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
“We have received a preliminary application in relation to Ms Letby’s case, and work has begun to assess the application. We anticipate further submissions being made to us. It is not for the CCRC to determine innocence or guilt in a case, that’s a matter for the courts.
“It is for the CCRC to find, investigate, and if appropriate, refer potential miscarriages of justice to the appellate courts when new evidence or new argument means there is a real possibility that a conviction will not be upheld, or a sentence reduced.
“At this stage it is not possible to determine how long it will take to review this application. A significant volume of complicated evidence was presented to the court in Ms Letby’s trials.
“The CCRC is independent. We do not work for the government, courts, police, the prosecution, or for anyone applying for a review of their case. This helps us investigate alleged miscarriages of justice impartially.”
A number of prominent figures have joined the campaign for a retrial, including Jeremy Hunt, who was famously accused of dismantling the NHS during his stint as the UK’s health secretary between 2012 and 2018.
In a conversation with The Crime Agents last week. Hunt didn’t speculate on whether a retrial will go ahead. Instead, he discussed his feelings about the case.
“My gut feeling is there’s doubt, but I think it’s for the CCRC to make that decision,” he explained. “And if they agree there’s sufficient doubt, then this would become an unsafe conviction.”
Hunt also highlighted the fact that he was health secretary at the time of the deaths, stating, “In the eyes of the law, she is guilty. And then, of course, the question you ask yourself is, ‘Could we have avoided this happening by taking action earlier?’…
“But yes, I do want the CCRC to look into this and I want them to do it really quickly.”
On the other side of the fence, chief prosecution witness Dr Dewi Evans, a retired paediatrician, criticized the experts’ report last year and denied allegations he was selective with evidence or hadn’t spotted issues with medical care at the hospital.
His comments were in response to Dr Shoo Lee, Canadian neonatologist and leading voice in the campaign for Letby’s appeal, who has suggested Dr Evans and the prosecution’s arguments that multiple deaths were caused by air embolism were flawed.
Regarding the claims of selective evidence, Dr Evans said (via The Telegraph), “Lee’s questions are easy to answer, but I’m not very keen on participating in ‘appeal via press conference’. It’s not how scientific and clinical research is presented. And it’s not how the formal legal process functions.”
He added: “I disagree with Lee’s assertion that I was ‘selective’. Quite the contrary. This is why I asked to review all the deaths and collapses from 2015 and 2016, not just the ’suspicious’ or ‘unexpected’ ones, or the ones where Letby was on duty.
“That’s why I told the police that if they had a ’suspect’, I didn’t want to know. I only heard about Letby in July 2018, when she was arrested for the first time. I identified malfeasance because the evidence pointed to it.”
Is Lucy Letby guilty?
In strictly legal terms, Lucy Letby is guilty. Her convictions for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of seven others were returned by a jury following two trials, and upheld by the courts. Unless those convictions are overturned on appeal, that legal position does not change.
The prosecution case presented at trial was built on a combination of circumstantial evidence, expert medical testimony, and patterns identified within the neonatal unit. Central to the case was the claim that babies suffered sudden, unexplained collapses only when Letby was on shift.
Medical experts told the court that several babies showed signs consistent with deliberate harm, including the introduction of air into the bloodstream, insulin poisoning, and force-feeding.
In two cases involving insulin, laboratory results indicated insulin had been administered artificially, with no medical explanation.
Letby was also linked to suspicious events through staff testimony, phone records, and handwritten notes recovered from her home, one of which presented in the true crime documentary includes the lines, “I am evil… I killed them on purpose.”
Police searches of Letby’s home also recovered sensitive medical documents, including nursing handover sheets and resuscitation records. A total of 257 sheets were found, with Letby suggesting she forgot to remove them from her pockets after her shifts.
The jury was asked to consider each case individually, but also to view the wider pattern of collapses, which the prosecution described as unprecedented. After weeks of evidence, jurors concluded that Letby had intentionally harmed the babies in her care.
Doubts about the safety of those convictions have grown since the trial concluded. Critics argue that the prosecution relied too heavily on pattern-based reasoning, without sufficiently accounting for alternative explanations such as staffing shortages, infection control failures, and poor neonatal care standards at the hospital.
Several experts have since questioned the air embolism theory, arguing that it is difficult to diagnose retrospectively and that clinical signs cited at trial are not universally accepted as proof of deliberate injection.
Others dispute whether the insulin results alone conclusively demonstrate criminal intent, rather than error or contamination. A further point of contention is that Letby’s defense team did not call its own expert witnesses during the trial, instead focusing on cross-examining prosecution experts.
Text that plays out at the end of the new documentary reads, “Defense barrister Ben Myers KC declined to comment on why Lucy Letty’s defense team did not call any experts during the trial.”
Importantly, none of this means Letby has been cleared, nor does it establish innocence. What it does mean is that a growing body of professionals believe the convictions may be unsafe, but whether that translates into a retrial is yet to be determined.
Where is Lucy Letby now?
According to the latest reports, Lucy Letby is incarcerated at HMP Bronzefield, a Category A women’s prison located in Surrey, England. Retired prison governor Vanessa Frake previously told the Mirror that Letby has a “target on her head”.
“I don’t believe Letby has any more or any less than other prisoners,” Frake said. “Her privileges would have to be earned. Letby is no different from any other prisoner serving a whole-life sentence, and she will not receive special treatment, that is for certain.”
She continued, “Women who have had children, who are carers and nurturers, will see the likes of Letby as lower than low.
“You can bet they know she is in their jail – they may not know where, but they will have read papers and seen her on TV, and they will know exactly what she looks like. It will be the staff’s job to protect her from that.”
A fellow children’s nurse and Letby’s best friend, Maisie – whose name has been changed – appears in The Investigation of Lucy Letby to share her side of the case, while delving further into Letby’s life behind bars.
In a letter to Maisie, Letby said that she has her “own room and toilet” and is “able to shower each day and go outside for a walk.”
“I miss Tigger and Smudge [Letby’s cats] so much, it is heartbreaking,” she added. “They must think I am a terrible mummy. Mum and Dad are taking good care of them though, and are no doubt spoiling them.”
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